Something to prove

A little explanation at the start of this post; I had no intention of going to Uppsala when I planned this trip. In fact, I wasn't going to visit Sweden at all, but a number of people recommended I visit Stockholm (to see the Vasa!) while I was in the area and I could see the wisdom in that. Then my supervisor suggested that, if I had time, I make the trip out to have a look at Uppsala.

"It used to be the capital," he said. "It's relevant to you, and I think you'll like it."

He was right, of course. This always happens to me. I went to the USA expecting to be an east-coast person and fell madly in love with the west. Now it looks like Sweden is doing everything it can to win me over before Norway gets a look-in.

Uppsala suffers from Picturesque European Town disorder

Today Sweden put on a show like it wanted to marry my daughter. Uppsala is about 40 minutes from Stockholm by train. A quick walk to the river and I found the tourist bureau. I had no idea what I could see or do in Uppsala, just the vague knowledge that it was pretty and had something to do with vikings.

I was right on both counts.

The lady at the bureau recommended getting the bus out to Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala) about seven kilometers from the city center. But first, there were some items near the cathedral she thought might interest me.

Holmfast had the stone erected in memory of his father and brother

 Mother.

Bjorn had the stone erected in memory of __ soul

 Flippin.

Gilliog had the stone erected in memory of her daughter Gilliog

Runestones.

The park by the cathedral had eight runestones on display. These are the first runestones I have ever seen. I was blown away.

Then it was lunch time. The tourist bureau had recommended a bunch of Swedish restaurants, but they all had fish-only menus and cost a lot of money. So I found a cute cafe.

Lunch round one

That sandwich was incredible. Fresh salad, cheese, sundried tomatoes, pesto. I was too hot for a coffee, but after watching the river for a while I thought a coffee would be just the thing. Also I had made the mistake of seeing the cake cabinet.

Lunch round two

German coffee and Austrian coffee had been so awful I have become wary of European coffee in general. In Austria in especially this was confusing; they were so proud of their coffee. I asked the girl at the cafe why Swedish coffee was so good.

"We're not proud," she said. "We just love our coffee."

The view at lunch time.

I got on the wrong bus. Well, the right bus, but going the wrong way. I got to tour the Uppsala number 2 route. But eventually I made it out to Gamla Uppsala.

Are those... are those barrows?

Gamla Uppsala was the bronze-age and Viking age capital of Uppland. The area is now full of excavation sites. There are going to be 30 archaeologists working there this year and 20 next year, preparing for the new train tunnel that's going in. There used to be somewhere between 200 and 2,000 burial sites in the area, along with halls and homes and such. Supposedly a pagan temple (though no evidence has been found). Most of it has been ploughed over as farmland and the landscape has changed considerably.

There's a museum. It's full of stuff excavated from the three primary burial sites and a handful of boat burials from nearby.

Swords and spears and helmets and jewelry and just so much stuff

An archaeologist gave us a tour of the exhibits and some history of the area. There were, he explained, two sources who provided information about whose remains were in the three main burial sites, and neither of them were reliable. One was a German priest, whose account was hearsay and was mostly propaganda aimed at making the Swedish pagans seem like savages.

The other was Snorri Sturluson.

In Snorri's version, one king was sacrificed to end a terrible famine. One fell off his horse and died. The third was gored by a sacrificial bull. But these accounts don't match up with the remains found.

Ten year old boys on bearskins and such

There was a reason for this too.

"In Snorri's stories about the Norwegian kings, they alway have heroic deaths. But the Swedish kings, the deaths are silly. This is why we say, when we don't believe somebody, that they are telling Norwegian Stories."

That was not my favourite thing.

"Also, Snorri is slang, in Sweden, for wiener. So that is funny. It makes all the school children laugh when they hear it."

The view from the middle site

They also had a kids section

The on-site archaeologist got me the metal sword from behind the counter

I would have looked more fierce if I could have wiped the shit-eating grin off my face.